Saints and Self-Interest

The spiritual force of democratic capitalism has hardly ever been articulated. Nearly all writers about the subject have been anti-capitalist. Most of those who have written in favor of democratic capitalism have been, alas, economists. Spirituality is not an economist’s long suit, in public at least, unless he is a socialist. Socialist economists have solid reasons for turning as soon as possible from empirical discussions to spirituality, since socialism looks better in those empyrean realms than in the humble world of fact. Democratic capitalists, however, being fairly secure about material facts, might usefully explore the spiritual power of their own system. The prospect may surprise them.

Every social system depends upon a vision of the world and human life within it. After the bitter conflict of the religious wars, the nineteenth century proponents of democratic capitalism thought it wise to caution silence about metaphysics in order to concentrate upon the practical tasks in which people of various persuasions might fruitfully cooperate. They wished to leave spirituality to the poets, philosophers, and archbishops—and to the free choice of individuals. But such innovators, as much as any revolutionaries before or since, had an implicit spiritual vision of the world and the human beings in it.

About the Author

Michael Novak

Michael Novak was a Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat.

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The spiritual force of democratic capitalism has hardly ever been articulated. Nearly all writers about the subject have been anti-capitalist. Most of those who have written in favor of democratic capitalism have been, alas, economists. Spirituality is not an economist’s long suit, in public at least, unless he is a socialist. Socialist economists have solid reasons for turning as soon as possible from empirical discussions to spirituality, since socialism looks better in those empyrean realms than in the humble world of fact. Democratic capitalists, however, being fairly secure about material facts, might usefully explore the spiritual power of their own system. The prospect may surprise them.

Every social system depends upon a vision of the world and human life within it. After the bitter conflict of the religious wars, the nineteenth century proponents of democratic capitalism thought it wise to caution silence about metaphysics in order to concentrate upon the practical tasks in which people of various persuasions might fruitfully cooperate. They wished to leave spirituality to the poets, philosophers, and archbishops—and to the free choice of individuals. But such innovators, as much as any revolutionaries before or since, had an implicit spiritual vision of the world and the human beings in it.